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Beef and Boards Dinner Theater Indianapolis

Theatrical genre

Dinner theater (sometimes called dinner and a show) is a grade of entertainment that combines a restaurant meal with a staged play or musical. "Dinner and a evidence" can also refer to a eatery meal in combination with live concert music, where patrons listen to a performance during a interruption in the meal. In the case of a theatrical functioning, sometimes the play is incidental entertainment, secondary to the meal. In the style of a dark society, the play may exist the main feature of the evening, with dinner less of import or optional. Dinner theater requires the management of three singled-out entities: a live theater, a restaurant and, usually, a bar.[1]

History [edit]

The Madrigal dinners in the Renaissance were early on forms of dinner theater.[2] Some early dinner theaters, known as "theatre restaurants", served dinner in one room and staged the play in another.[3]

Notable venues in the United States [edit]

Barksdale Theatre [edit]

Barksdale Theatre in Richmond, Virginia, founded in 1953 by David and Nancy Kilgore at the Hanover Tavern, was the starting time formal dinner theater in the United States.[4] [five] [half dozen] Later on the theatre was established, an adjoining room in the theatre was inverse to suit a cafe dinner for groups attending the performance, somewhen becoming available to all patrons.[vii]

Drury Lane Theatres [edit]

Tony DeSantis opened the Martinique Restaurant in Evergreen Park, Illinois and began producing plays in 1949 in a tent adjacent to the restaurant to attract customers.[eight] The enterprise was successful, prompting him to build his first theater, Drury Lane Evergreen Park in 1958. It was the showtime of six dinner theaters he started and a local entertainment fixture for 45 years earlier endmost in 2003.[9] Drury Lane North began operations in 1976 and was sold to the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort, becoming the Marriott Theatre.[eight] Drury Lane Oak Beck Terrace opened in 1984. The facility uses local performers and shows are limited to musicals.[8]

Meadowbrook Theatre Eatery [edit]

Cedar Grove, New Jersey, was the location of the Meadowbrook Theatre Restaurant, which opened in 1960 with 700+ seats of table service. Information technology closed after 13 years, in part due to nearby competition from Broadway and Actors' Equity Clan (Equity) requirements that the facility follow the rules that practical to Broadway theatres, including pay scales and other restrictions.[3]

Candlelight Theatre Restaurant [edit]

The get-go facility where dinner and the show were together in one room was the Candlelight Theatre Eating place in Washington, D.C. Beak Pullinsi was a theater student in 1959 who conceived and implemented the amusement concept at the Presidential Arms Hotel during summertime breaks. The venture was successful but it was unable to convert to a year-circular operation due to the hotel's convention business. Pullinsi returned to his Chicago home and opened the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, commencement in a edifice owned by his grandfather, then in a new facility with seating for 550. The Candlelight introduced several innovations, including the hydraulic phase, lighting equipment located in the mezzanine, and stage wagons on wheels.[10]

Barn Dinner Theatre [edit]

Howard Douglass Wolfe, an entrepreneur from Roanoke, Virginia, created the Barn Dinner Theatre franchise and has been called the "Father of Dinner Theater".[11] He began the franchise in 1961 with Conley Jones.[12] The chain included 27 theaters in New York, Virginia, Due north Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia.[thirteen] Each franchise featured Wolfe's architectural befouled designs, farm-themed decorations that included a plow and other tools, and a phase elevator that Wolfe called the "Magic Stage". At the end of an act or scene, the stage would disappear into the ceiling, then reappear ready for the next scene. The whole procedure took less than a infinitesimal. During the franchise stage of The Barn, all the productions were staged at a studio in New York City, then sent out to the individual theaters.[fourteen] At the suspension-up of the franchise, the production facilities were moved to Nashville. In its early days, the performance'southward bandage also served equally the waiters and waitresses. Actors were selected and cast in New York and resided in living quarters higher up the theater for the duration of the productions. Mickey Rooney and many other well-known performers acted in roles at The Barn. The Barn in Greensboro, North Carolina, was founded in 1964 and is the oldest continuously running dinner theater in America and the last of the original Befouled Dinner Theatres,[15] though a Barn franchise that opened in Nashville in 1967 (now called Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre) is also even so in operation.[xvi]

Alhambra Dinner Theatre [edit]

The Alhambra Dinner Theatre in Jacksonville, Florida was opened in 1967 by Leon Simon. It was purchased in 1985 by Tod Booth, who left Chicago's Drury Lane Theatres.[17] The Alhambra is the oldest dinner theater yet open up.[18] [xix] The facility uses a thrust stage to provide all 400 seats with an unobstructed view.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres [edit]

The Chanhassen Dinner Theatres in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota were founded in 1968. Herb Bloomberg, who designed and built the expanded Sometime Log Theatre near Lake Minnetonka, subsequently synthetic and operated the Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. The Erstwhile Log Theatre has an attached dining room. Revenue from nutrient sales is necessary for financial success, but is non a dinner theater.[20] The Chanhassen claims to be the largest professional dinner theater in the U.Due south. The Main Stage seats 577, the Fireside Theatre contains 230 seats for non-dining patrons, and the Playhouse Theatre has tables for 126.[21]

Carousel Dinner Theatre [edit]

The Carousel Dinner Theatre opened in 1973 and moved to Akron, Ohio in 1988 to what had been a Las Vegas-way nightclub. With 1200 seats, it was the largest dinner theater in the United States until it closed in 2009. Some believe the theater was a victim of the late 2000s United states of america economic crisis,[22] even so it was more probable the change in ownership and poor decisions on their part that triggered events leading to the theatre closing.[ citation needed ]

Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre [edit]

Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre in Indianapolis, Indiana, opened in 1973 and was one of a concatenation of dinner theatres founded by J. Scott Talbott. It has a 450-seat firm and features Broadway shows and concerts preceded by a buffet dinner. It is a professional Equity theatre.[23] [ citation needed ]

Riddlesbrood Touring Theater [edit]

The Riddlesbrood Touring Theater Company stages dinner theater, murder mystery shows, and comedy shows. Based in Stratford, New Jersey, some of their shows have been performed entirely in fabricated-up languages and take incorporated ideas from the New Thought move.[24] [ citation needed ]

Westchester Broadway Theatre [edit]

Westchester Broadway Theatre in Elmsford, NY. The theatre continuously presents Broadway Musical Revivals and many special events and concerts including tribute bands, one-act shows, rock bands, trip the light fantastic toe shows, magic shows, and more. Information technology is the longest running year-circular professional theatre in the Country of New York.[25] The Theatre originally opened every bit An Evening Dinner Theatre on July 9, 1974. In 1991, the theatre moved to a larger performance space with state-of-the-art engineering, hydraulic lifts, increased seating capacity, and many other features. The theatre was also given the new proper name, "Westchester Broadway Theatre".[26]

The Derby Dinner Playhouse

The Derby Dinner Playhouse in Clarksville, Indiana opened in 1974 and was still open in 2009, operating continuously for 35 years. They utilized a "magic stage" similar to those used past the Barn Dinner Theatre. An orchestra, if utilized, plays in the "attic", out of sight.[27]

Popularity and pass up [edit]

Dinner theaters every bit regional entertainments for local audiences in the US peaked in the 1970s. Alhambra Dinner Theatre possessor Tod Berth stated that in 1976, at that place were 147 professional dinner theaters in operation nationwide.[28] The dinner theaters that used former film actors to star in the productions were particularly successful. Van Johnson, Lana Turner, Don Ameche, Eve Arden, Mickey Rooney, June Allyson, Shelley Winters, Dorothy Lamour, Tab Hunter, Betty Grable, Sandra Dee, Mamie Van Doren, Joan Blondell, Debbie Reynolds, Cyd Charisse, Kathryn Grayson, Betty Hutton, Jane Withers, Martha Raye, Elke Sommer, Donald O'Connor, Roddy McDowall, Jane Russell, Cesar Romero, and Ann Miller are merely a few Hollywood stars who were featured in dinner theatre. Actors from well remembered television serial, such as Betty White, Ann B. Davis, Vivian Vance, Bob Denver, JoAnne Worley, Bernie Kopell, Dawn Wells, Ken Drupe, Gavin MacLeod, Nancy Kulp, Frank Sutton, and Bob Crane[29] were also used as headliners.[28] Burt Reynolds owned a dinner theater in Jupiter, Florida from 1979 to 1997,[30] every bit did role player Earl Holliman, who owned the Fiesta Dinner Playhouse in San Antonio, Texas.[31]

The boom ended in the mid-1980s, with many of the theaters closing. Motion-picture show and television stars ceased working in dinner theater. Booth commented: "They could brand more than in a day doing a commercial than they could make during the entire run of dinner theater evidence, and they didn't have to travel. Plus, a lot of the stars simply started dying off. It was a fine gig for a while."[28] He said that, in 1999, you could count the number of surviving professional person dinner theaters on two hands.[28] There was a stigma attached to dinner theater and audiences got tired of such shows like The Last of the Cherry-red Hot Lovers and Arsenic and Old Lace.[17]

Resurgence [edit]

After 2000, new dinner theaters began opening. Chicago's original Drury Lane Water Belfry Place was founded in 1976, simply airtight in 1983. A new $7 1000000 version opened in 2004.[eight] The Desert Star Theater in Murray, Utah opened a dinner theater in 2004[32] and the Gathering Dinner Theatre in Jacksonville opened in early 2009.[1] At the cease of 2006, the National Dinner Theatre Association had 32 members, compared to nine in 1999.[12]

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 led to a resurgence of the form as a way of giving employment dorsum to musicians and entertainment back to patrons in an industry severely affected by closures.[33]

Dissimilar types [edit]

Matrimony vs. non-union [edit]

In the United States, matrimony theatres are known every bit equity theatres, where performers are members of the Actors' Equity Clan, the spousal relationship that represents professional stage actors and stage managers. Union shows have a higher cost considering equity contracts typically require the theater to pay for lodging, a minimum salary, insurance and pension payments, among other work rules regarding auditions and hiring.[34] [17]

The reduction in professional dinner theaters from 147 in 1976 to ix in 1999 was partly because wedlock theaters changed to non-union to reduce expenses. Although actors are frequently housed at not-spousal relationship theatres, salary for non-matrimony actors may be significantly lower than at Equity theaters.[ commendation needed ]

Commercial vs. not-profit [edit]

Tony DeSantis commented that theater operations break fifty-fifty at best, while the restaurant and especially the bar, are more than probable to be profitable.[viii] While many theaters operate as not-for-profit organizations in lodge to take advantage of grants and funding from government agencies or private foundations, most dinner theaters are commercial businesses. Commercial dinner theatres oft have shows six or seven nights a week and matinees. They also have short breaks between shows, usually less than a week.[ten]

An example of a non-profit theater is the Starlight Dinner Theatre in Lansing, Michigan, where the dinner is catered. The shows are staged at a schoolhouse cafetorium and the season includes but iv productions with four performances per production (on Friday and Saturday nights).[35]

Some non-profits use amateur actors or casts where the leading function may exist a professional with the remainder of the cast equanimous of amateurs.[ citation needed ]

Variations [edit]

Tourist [edit]

Vacation American destinations such as Las Vegas, Destin, Florida, Branson, Missouri, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Anaheim, and Los Angeles, California, saw the emergence of specialty dinner theaters, where the prove stays the same for an extended run considering the vast bulk of their customers are tourists, not local residents. The nearly pop vacation destination in the Usa, Orlando, Florida, had more than than a dozen dinner theaters operating in 1999; through the 1990s, sixteen opened and closed there.[36]

Murder mystery [edit]

Murder mystery games are interactive dinner theater events that have become popular on their own. The productions may be public where anyone can attend for the price of admission, or individual where a company, social group or system sponsors an upshot for its members. While utilizing the "dinner and a prove" concept, the murder mystery show generally targets a smaller audience than typical dinner theater. Public performances ordinarily feature professional person actors while private showings may offering "roles" to the guests who participate in the production equally either characters or detectives.[ commendation needed ]

Others [edit]

The Nuptials Comedy is like to Murder Mystery every bit the staging requirements are minimal and the audience has interaction with the actors while they perform. Joey and Maria'due south Comedy Italian Wedding ceremony was written by Darlyne Franklin in 1992 and the franchise rights were sold in 2001.[37] Other examples include Tony n' Tina'southward Wedding ceremony and a gay version, Joni and Gina'due south Wedding ceremony.

Riverboat Dinner Cruises combine a showboat with a meal. They are limited to locations on a navigable torso of water, such as the Showboat Branson Belle or the Goldenrod Showboat.[ citation needed ]

Madrigal dinners aka Madrigal Feasts are seasonal, typically held during the Christmas season. They are often staged by educational or religious entities for fundraising and include nutrient, singing, verse, humour, costumes, and a play from the Centre Ages, ranging from medieval to the Renaissance periods.[38]

Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament is a chain of dinner theaters with shows featuring horses and jousting.[39]

See also [edit]

  • Cabaret
  • Listing of dinner theaters

Sources [edit]

  • Lynk, William G. Dinner Theatre-A Survey and Directory, Greenwood Publishing (1993) ISBN 0-313-28442-3
  • McAuley, Muriel: Going On...Barksdale Theatre, The Kickoff Thirty-Ane Years, Taylor Publishing, 1984. ISBN 0-9613905-0-6
  • Miller, Michael (2008). The consummate idiot's guide to music history . Indianapolis, Indiana: Alpha. ISBN978-1592577514. OCLC 180755051.

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b Bull, Roger: [1] Florida Times-Union, December 23, 2008-New dinner theater planned
  2. ^ Miller, p. 32
  3. ^ a b Lynk, p. 18
  4. ^ McAuley, p. 16
  5. ^ Galbraith, Kate: "Practise-It-Yourself Entertainment, Way Off Broadway", The New York Times, December x, 2006. Retrieved 2008-10-01
  6. ^ Calos, Katherine: "Archived re-create". Archived from the original on 2008-10-21. Retrieved 2008-10-02 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as championship (link) DiscoverRichmond.com, July 22, 2008. No Barking at Barksdale; Retrieved 2008-ten-01
  7. ^ Lynk, p. 17
  8. ^ a b c d e Abarbanel, Jonathan: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-11-11. Retrieved 2008-07-15 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived re-create as title (link) PerformINK stories: April 29, 2004 – Tony DeSantis and His New Drury Lane Theatre
  9. ^ Munson, Nancy: [2] Chicago Tribune, June xix, 2003, Wal-Mart to Supercede Dinner Theater in Evergreen Park, IL
  10. ^ a b Lynk, pp. 17–18
  11. ^ Yost, Gregory (March–April 2008). "Dinner and a Evidence". Hagerstown Mag. Archived from the original on 17 December 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  12. ^ a b Galbraith, Kate: [iii] New York Times, December ten, 2006, Do-It-Yourself Entertainment, Way Off Broadway
  13. ^ Smith, Christopher (Jan 7, 2011). "The ascent and fall of dinner theater". LA Times . Retrieved 3 June 2014.
  14. ^ Teverbaugh, Don: "Florida's First Barn Dinner Theatre May Open in City", St. Petersburg Times, August ten, 1966
  15. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-19. Retrieved 2009-07-14 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived re-create equally title (link) Befouled Dinner Theatre, History of the Befouled
  16. ^ [4] Chaffin's Befouled Dinner Theatre
  17. ^ a b c Patton, Charlie:[5]Florida Times-Union, March 28, 1999; Curtain Call Archived September thirty, 2015, at the Wayback Car
  18. ^ Ghabour, Dahlia (30 August 2017). "How the Alhambra dinner theater owners brought it back to life". www.bizjournals.com . Retrieved 2021-11-14 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-condition (link)
  19. ^ Capitano, Laura: [6] Florida Times-Union, May ii, 2008-For dinner and a show, why not head to the Alhambra?
  20. ^ [7]Minnesota Monthly, May 2009-Wise Guys Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Automobile
  21. ^ "Seating Charts". Chanhassen Dinner Theatres . Retrieved 2021-11-14 .
  22. ^ Brown, Tony: "Akron's Carousel Dinner Theatre has its final performance", Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan 3, 2009
  23. ^ "Dwelling house". Beef & Boards . Retrieved 2021-11-14 .
  24. ^ Vanderhoof, Tricia - "Information technology's the end of the globe as we know information technology and the Riddlesbrood Players feel fine", Daily Record, 13 December 2012.
  25. ^ "Virtually Broadway Theater, Dinner Theatre, Special Events | Westchester NY". www.broadwaytheatre.com . Retrieved 2018-08-31 .
  26. ^ "History Dinner Theater, Broadway Theatre | Westchester County NY". world wide web.broadwaytheatre.com . Retrieved 2018-08-31 .
  27. ^ Suddeath, Daniel: "Archived re-create". Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2009-05-28 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) News and Tribune, February 28, 2009-Derby Dinner Playhouse continues success with unique atmosphere in Clarksville
  28. ^ a b c d Noles, Randy: [8] Florida Times-Matrimony, August 17, 2003; Guess Who Came to Dinner Archived August 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  29. ^ D'Anna, John (29 June 2018). "'Hogan's Heroes' star Bob Crane was murdered 40 years agone. Why does information technology still fascinate the states?". Arizona Republic . Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  30. ^ [9] Roadside America: Burt Reynolds and Friends Museum
  31. ^ Brumburgh, Gary: [10] Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine MComet – Earl Holliman Biography
  32. ^ Liljegren, Tom Tom: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-05-06 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) The Utah Statesman, August 22, 2006-Boo and hiss at Tom Cruise at the Desert Star
  33. ^ Dye, Josh (31 Oct 2020). "Dinner and a show: Sydney restaurants resurrect musical tradition". The Sydney Morn Herald.
  34. ^ Lynk, pp. 60–61
  35. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2009-07-14 . {{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Starlight Dinner Theatre, Welcome
  36. ^ "Dinner Theater Is a Tough Sell in Majuscule of Tourism | Los Angeles Business Journal". labusinessjournal.com. 29 November 1999. Archived from the original on 2021-11-14. Retrieved 2021-eleven-14 .
  37. ^ Hawkins, Brenda (11 March 2009). "Join the activeness in comedy dinner theatre". Naples News . Retrieved 2021-xi-14 . {{cite spider web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  38. ^ [11] Madrigal Traditions, What'due south a Madrigal Dinner?
  39. ^ Reynolds, Christopher (2016-08-07). "How Medieval Times survives in the digital age". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2021-eleven-14 .

External links [edit]

  • National Dinner Theater Association website

burtononcer1991.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_theater

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